Have patience, Ahmed." Lal Singh selected a leaf with betel-nut and began to chew with satisfaction.
"Patience ?" said Ahmed?
"Have I none ?" So the call went forth for a bride throughout the principality, and was answered from the four points of the compass.
Between the announcement and the fulfilment of these remarkable proceedings there arrived in the blazing city of Calcutta a young maid.
Her face was very stern for one so youthful, and it was as fearless as it was stern.

Umballa's last card, had she but known the treachery which had lured her to this mystic shore.

The young maid was Winnie, come, as she supposed, at the urgent call of her father and sister, and particularly warned to confide in no one and to hide with the utmost secrecy her destination..